Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah yesterday commended the Education Ministry’s major achievements during the past three years as well as its strategic plans and projects to transform the Kingdom into a knowledge-based society.
In a statement on the occasion, Education Minister Prince Faisal bin Abdullah emphasized his ministry’s efforts to realize the king’s vision on developing the Kingdom’s education system to strengthen the capabilities of Saudi students in science and technology.
The ministry established the Education Development Company to implement the King Abdullah Education Development Project (Tatwir).
“We are also working on setting up specialized firms such as School Transport Company and Educational Services Company,” Prince Faisal said.
In a report presented to the king, the ministry said it received 2,600 new school buildings during the past three years, renovated more than 4,000 buildings and established 1,500 multipurpose halls.
“We have completed 60 percent of delayed school building projects,” Prince Faisal said, adding that contracts would be awarded shortly to build 1,100 new school buildings with new designs. “We have a plan to set up a company to construct school buildings,” he said.
“We have been reviewing the performance of students to identify the areas where development is required,” the minister said. “We also provided training to teachers and supported them with modern educational tools and facilities,” he said, and disclosed plans to establish more kindergartens with private sector support.
The ministry has given more powers to education directors and school managers as part of a decentralization drive. “We have increased the powers of education directors by 33 percent,” Prince Faisal said, while disclosing plans to establish a commission for educational assessment, adding that it has received the king’s approval.
The commission will work to improve the quality and efficiency of education. “It will also assess the general performance of schools as well as preparation and execution of national exams,” the minister said.
The ministry established 2,000 computer workshops in the past three years and plans to set up 4,500 computer workshops next year. There will be a total of 130,000 computers in these workshops.
A royal decree issued by King Abdullah allowing employment of university graduates helped the ministry get 153,000 new teachers and administrators. “We also transferred 28,500 female teachers this year to places they requested and fulfilled 45 percent requests of male teachers,” the prince said.
The government now arranges transportation for 631,000 female students or 25 percent of the total. “We are planning to provide this transport service to male students and teachers,” he said.
